A sleek black car waited on the tarmac, its windows tinted and engine humming like it had somewhere more important to be. We climbed in with sleepy limbs and puffy eyes, the heat of the Kenyan sun already coating the horizon in a hazy gold glow.
Our driver didn’t say much, just nodded politely and pulled away from the airport toward the villa. It wasn’t far—twenty, maybe thirty minutes—but the landscape shifted fast. From wide paved roads into dusty, uneven paths surrounded by cracked buildings and tangled vines. Every now and then I’d catch Caden glancing out the window, quiet and unreadable.
The villa was tucked behind heavy gates and lined with hibiscus bushes that bloomed like they had something to prove. When we pulled up, I stepped out into the warmth, stretching and soaking in the
